Stake high as 2017 ITTF World Cup serves off

After months of fighting for qualification and weeks of preparation, the stage is now set for the 2017 ITTF World Cup which serves off today at the Country Hall in Liege, Belgium.

From the world and Olympic Champion, China’s Ma Long and European champion, Germany’s Timo Boll as well as African supers stars – Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar, the race for the top spot begins this morning will all eyes of the prestigious trophy.

Apart from aiming for the trophy, the 20 competitors will also be targeting their share from the $150,000 prize money as well as garnering ranking points.

The 20 warlords drawn across the globe have all arrived the beautiful and quiet Belgium city of Liege in their intention toimpress on the world stage.

China’s Lin Gaoyuan booked his spot in Liège following his title winning campaign at the 2017 ITTF-Asian Cup and is joined by South Korea’s Lee Sangsu, Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An, Japan’s Jun Mizutani, South Korea’s Jeong Sangeun, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan and Japan’s Koki Niwa who also qualified via the continental competition. Ma Long features as World champion.

The rest of the player lineup includes two African representatives – Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna and Egypt’s Omar Assar, Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi and United States’Kanak Jha have qualified from Pan America and rounding off the list of entries is Australia’s David Powell who sealed his place at the World Cup with a successful campaign at the 2017 ITTF-Oceania Cup.

For the next three days, the opening day will see the players seeded ninth to 20th being drawn into four equal groups of three players with contestants finishing in the top two positions in each group advancing from stage 1.

The eight players to progress from the group stage will join the top eight seeded competitors in the Round of 16 on day two prior to four quarter-finals encounters. Day three sees the four remaining players fight it out in the semi-finals, before the tournament closes out with a third-place play-off and the final.